


a quiet, starry place

by mildlydiscouraging



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Alien references, Angus has animal proficiency, Bechdel Test Pass, Date Night, Emotional Healing, F/F, F/M, Gen, I feel obnoxious tagging everyone but literally everyone is here, Libraries, Lucretia is the mom of the moon, M/M, Moon, Paperwork, Slice of Life, Stargazing, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 16:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10620396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlydiscouraging/pseuds/mildlydiscouraging
Summary: A day in the lives on the moon. Angus gets the sniffles. Merle and Taako do some spring cleaning. Johann makes a deal. Kravitz forgets something. Avi files overdue paperwork. The Voidfish makes an inquisitive friend. Carey and Killian look at the stars. Magnus opens up. The Director goes to sleep.





	

The Bureau of Balance library is a very dusty place, much too dusty for Angus's little lungs, but since he's sort of their only patron he goes anyway. Also, there's nowhere else to get books on the moon, especially since Taako came back from shopping one afternoon looking a little shaken and forbade him from ever setting foot in Fantasy Costco alone.

The library is mostly there for Seekers to do research in, but since most of them prefer to take a more hands on approach to their seeking, the stacks are usually empty of other people. Angus spent his first week as part of the Bureau just devouring as many reference books as he could, partially so _someone_ would be using them, but also because it was so exciting. He had never had access to this much knowledge before in his life! It was even better than that time his grandpa took him to the big university library in Neverwinter. There were big rolling ladders to reach the highest shelves and languages he didn't know (yet) and enchanted books that read to you or lock themselves shut if you misinterpret them or have only a few pages that rewrite themselves at every turn. Already in just a short time he had gotten lost twice in the winding endless shelves just exploring.

Their children's section is abysmally non-existent, though. Angus already sent in a list of suggested readings, but he didn't really expected anything to happen. He was the only kid on the moon, after all, and he brought his own books from home.

But there's just something about reading in a library. Angus pulls one of his Caleb Cleveland books out of his bag and curls up in one of the armchairs in the far corner of the second floor. Even though this is the dustiest part of the building, and he hates sneezing, it's his favorite place to hide on the moon. All around him are shadows and empty wooden tables, and it feels like he's in his very own world, far from any trouble.

It's a little late (not quite dark enough to whip out the telescope, but getting there) and it's not very long before Gaelyn, the librarian, comes over to tell Angus he's going home. But because Angus is a regular and just a good kid in general, Gaelyn gives him one of the big metal keys off his key ring and tells him to lock up when he leaves. It's very exciting, and _very_ grown up, and Angus goes back to his book with renewed enthusiasm, even though he's read it about five times already.

As the world drifts by outside the window, Angus reads and reads, only pausing to blow his nose in the old embroidered hanky his grandpa gave him. Eventually it grows too dark to read by even the lights placed every few feet on the wall and Angus goes back to his bag on the nearest table. After sorting through the various useful but cluttering other things in his bag, he pulls out a glass jar and carefully casts just the tiniest bit of fire into it. He makes sure the lid is screwed on nice and tight and, once it's safely contained, he puts the jar on the table.

Angus kicks off his little Oxfords and settles back into his chair to keep reading when he hears a thump from across the room. He freezes and grips his book, but his fingers slip and he ends up giving himself a papercut. Before he can stop himself, he hisses and drops the book, and there is another thump followed by light footsteps quickly headed towards his corner.

"Oh no..."

The steps continue as Angus throws himself behind the chair, still holding his bleeding finger in one hand. Squished up against the wall, the chair is just tall enough that he can lean down and look out from underneath it. The sound gets louder and louder—although not by much—and Angus finds himself wishing he had had the foresight to put the light out. Even if he's hiding, it's definitely obvious someone had been there.

Angus is crouched as quietly as possible when he feels a sneeze coming on. He thinks a quick _ohpleaseno_ , but it is too late, and his head jerks forward with a sneeze that echoes endlessly through the still library. The last shelf before the sitting area shakes as something pushes the attached ladder and Angus flinches, nose still in his elbow, before he hears the sound. _Was that a...?_

Before he can finish the thought, an orange cat pads around the corner, flicking its tail in irritation.

"Oh."

Angus lowers his arm from where it had been reaching for his wand on the table. The cat winds through the legs of the rickety chair opposite and cautiously approaches Angus. Now in the light he can see the tear in its left ear, how its whiskers are shorter on one side than the other, and they regard each other for a moment. As marked as this cat is, it is obviously well cared for, its fur smooth and brushed, and it doesn't flinch when Angus reaches out to pet it. In fact, it leans into the touch, and Angus laughs when its wet nose bumps his hand.

"There are no dogs allowed on the moon," Angus says to himself, "but the Director never said anything about cats..."

The cat climbs onto him in response, walking in place and getting comfortable before letting him pet it. Angus sneezes again and realizes he must be allergic and nearly invisible cat hair must have been what has been setting him off this whole time. After a second or two of waiting, though, he doesn't feel like he's going to die or anything, so he shrugs and lets the cat sit in his lap.

"My name's Angus," he says as it kneads at his knees. "What's yours?"

A meow.

"Well that's not very helpful." Angus frowns a little but keeps petting it. "I guess I'll just have to figure it out. I'm a very good detective, you know."

The cat starts purring again and Angus can feel the vibrations of it rumbling in his bones. He picks up the cat very gently and carries it to the chair. Its claws latch onto his shirt but thankfully don't actually catch him and he settles back down. Whoever this cat belongs to, they must be a very nice person. _This is definitely someone used to snuggles_ , Angus thinks with a smile. He can think of quite a few people who could use a friend like that.

Or maybe it's just a wild cat let loose on the moon. Angus is pretty sure someone would've noticed and cracked down on that, but there's a lot of stuff that goes on here that no one knows about. No one but Angus, that is, but he's no snitch. If there's one thing he's learned as a detective it's that sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut.

Regardless, he keeps up his easy ministrations until the cat falls asleep. It is a warm, heavy weight in Angus's lap, and while he's a little disappointed that he can't get up now to do anything, he still feels content to just sit there quietly. There aren't a lot of people in the Bureau prone to stillness, which is a good thing in that it makes them good adventurers, but not so much good companions for someone like Angus. He likes excitement as much as the next guy, but it's good to rest sometimes too, and he finds himself falling asleep, his glasses slipping down his nose, his hand resting on the gentle slope of the cat's back, his nose twitching every once in awhile.

When Angus next wakes up to the sound of doors creaking open and thin early sunlight streaking through the windows, the only evidence that last night wasn't all a dream is an inky purple paw-print and a tickle in the back of his throat.

**☾☾☾**

"Watch out for the rug!" Taako smacks Merle with a broom. "If you move it and I get vertigo from that glass floor bullshit I swear I'll make sure to throw up on _your_ bed."

"Alright, alright!"

Merle stops dragging the coffee table and puts the rug back in place. He and Taako are trying to clean the living room while Magnus is running a distraction errand, something about a specific spice or ingredient for Taako. It's partially as a nice surprise for him, but partially so he isn't there to do everything better than them. If Merle had to hear that kid's speech about the benefits of natural floor polish one more time, he was gonna scream. Sometimes Magnus was just too... _Magnus_ for his own good.

"Watch it!" Taako's hand lands on Merle's shoulder just as he's about to step on Taako's feet. Speaking of things he would never hear the end of...

"Look where you're going, old man! These boots cost more gold than you'll ever see in your entire life."

"Why are you wearing them now then?"

Taako turns back around to the corner he was sweeping up in, conveniently hiding his face at the same time. "Fashion is a way of life," he says, but the way his eyes unfocus and a small smile slides onto his face says otherwise.

Merle narrows his eyes but says nothing. He knows Taako has been up to something, something involving staying out all night once every couple of months and dressing less like a thrift store exploded all over him than usual.

It was pretty easy to connect the dots, all in all. Merle may not have the highest intelligence modifier, but he wasn't an idiot. Someone would say something completely innocuous and Taako's mind would drift away with a vacant smile, reminded of something or someone, and knowing Taako it must be something in the present. Or he'd go to Taako's room to ask him where something in the kitchen was (because that asshole was always reorganizing things based on a system only he understood) and hear him talking to someone sweetly, and uncharacteristically so, but there would be no one there when he opened the door. Or that semi-lumpy vase-looking clay thing that appeared one day on the kitchen counter, hidden slightly out of immediate sight and full of wooden spoons and shit. Y'know, stuff like that.

That being said, he wasn't going to push it any further. Let Taako pretend they were all nothing more than begrudging roommates and coworkers—he was willing to let them both pretend they didn't _really_ know the other knew what was going on.

Besides, it's kind of a quid pro quo thing. He doesn't ask about what are most surely Taako's dates, Taako doesn't ask about his monthly trips to the surface, and none of them talk about their pasts. It's a good system. For now.

The door opens and Magnus drops his bag in shock.

"You guys cleaned?!"

"Oh god..."

And sue him, Merle really cares. He'll suffer slings and arrows and group hugs, if it means having people who make him want to stick around. Even when the group hugs are involuntary and somewhat suffocating.

He draws the line at cleaning, though. Never again.

**☾☾☾**

Blank sheet music, blank sheet music, it's got to be around here somewhere. Johann feels like he's been down every single aisle of Fantasy Costco and he still hasn't found anything like what he's looking for. He's about to resort to just drawing the fucking lines himself, no matter how crooked they'll be, when someone pops out from behind a stack of enchanted applesauce jugs.

"Johann! What brings you to Fantasy Costco? Here to make a deal?"

"Goddammit..."

Garfield hovers a few inches off the ground, lying on his side with his head cheekily propped up on his arm, his purple robes fluttering despite the fact that there's no wind in the building.

"Come on, you can talk to me, Johann. Whatcha looking for?" He purrs. "Satisfying a craving?"

"No," Johann says as he takes half a step back. "Just looking for some of that, y'know, parchment, with the music staffs on it? The Voidfish wants a snack."

"Of course!" Garfield flies up to the ceiling and starts flitting around the store. "Gotta keep our MVP satisfied!"

The warlock keeps chattering even as he dashes out of sight, the sound echoing across the warehouse-like interior. On one hand, Johann is glad there was no one else when he entered the store, as they'd surely be swept up in this madness. On the other, he really wishes there were witnesses. You know, just in case.

Just as Johann starts to consider running out of the store, the mayhem turns back and Garfield hoots from just the next aisle over. Johann yelps and ducks out of the way just as the boxes or whatever were on the shelf by his head were suddenly not.

"What the hell, dude," Johann says from among the detritus. Garfield is sticking out through the shelves, with a handful of paper and a grin like the Chesire cat. It's definitely metaphorically blinding, if not also somehow literally, and Johann blinks rapidly.

"Papel du jour, direct from the vaults," Garfield says with a flourish. He slides effortlessly through the shelf and comes to a cheeky float right in front of Johann with his chin in his hands. The stack of fresh sheet music hovers in between them.

Johann takes half a step back and says, "Pretty sure none of that was right, but thanks, man." He reaches out to take the paper but it jumps just high enough that he can't.

"A deal's a deal," Garfield intones. It's somehow both whimsical and threatening, and it gives Johann pause.

He narrows his eyes. "Technically we didn't make a deal yet."

"Yet being the operative word here, darling." With this Garfield drifts closer and waggles his eyebrows. "So how about it? What've you got to trade?"

Johann pulls off his purple floppy hat and runs a hand through his hair. It's not like he has much to trade, and he's heard what kind of weird shit he's gotten out of Magnus. Is it really worth it?

Garfield starts clucking and swaying his head back and forth like a clock pendulum. "Tick tock, my man. What'll it be? Little bit of blood? You got a tear or two in there for me?" Garfield chuckles. "Ooh, how about a little ditty, an ode to Garfield?"

"Fine." Johann stuffs the hat back on his head and crosses his arms. "A private concert, next week, a song just for you. I want a year's supply of sheet music, though."

Garfield does a quick little backflip in the air and touches down gently on the tile with a little clap.

"Excellent!" Garfield chirps as the paper drifts down into Johann's waiting hands. He pulls out a little book from the depths of his robes. "I'll pencil you in for Thursday, eight o'clock sharp?"

"Yeah, sure, okay," Johann starts backing out of the store and finally escapes, stack of paper finally in his possession. Garfield continues talking, but as soon as he's out of sight Johann runs for the door.

The constant hum of the in-house music is cut off as automagic doors swish shut behind him, but instead of heading back down to gamekeeping Johann turns toward the Director's office. There's about to be a convenient emergency next Thursday night.

**☾☾☾**

It was on their third date (half a week after Goodewill, a week after the Chug n Squeeze, at an increasing frequency), where Taako tried on ridiculous things and Kravitz told him they looked good, when Taako invites Kravitz in for a "nightcap, or afternooncap, or whatever."

"He's totally over the whole arm thing."

"Is he?"

"Well, mostly he just ribs Magnus about it, so you're probably fine. He's not really a grudge kind of guy."

Kravitz leans in conspiratorially. "Between you and me," he says, "Merle isn't all that frightening. Although I am still wondering how he died so many times."

"You and me both, my dude." Taako shrugs. "Besides, I think Magnus might not even be home. I think he has training with the Regulators? I don't know, I wasn't paying attention."

Kravitz's already present smile widens as he tilts his head to the side. "Why are you suddenly so interested in them knowing about this? I thought you didn't care what 'those clowns' think?"

Taako smacks Kravitz in the arm with his umbrella, but Kravitz could swear he's blushing. "I don't!" He says. "They're a pair of idiots. Magnus once tried to _poison_ a _box_ because he couldn't get it open."

"Did it work?"

"Yes, it did. There was a bunch of gold inside and it was pretty awesome, but that is not the point. The point is you let other people in on a good thing and they always ruin it. I love those guys, but, y'know, I'm not really good with sharing, and they're not really good with taking things seriously."

By this time they've reached the little outbuilding that houses the elevator down to the Reclaimer's apartment and Taako sighs and leans back against the building, hitting the button with his elbow. "Those goofs get in the way of everything," he explains, "and I don't want them intruding on this."

He waves between them flailingly and Kravitz catches his hand before he hits either of them in the face. "Okay then," Kravitz concedes, "just one more question. Why do you trust them with your life?"

Taako lets his hand drop, still held in Kravitz's. "What."

"Why are they the ones on your team?" When Taako doesn't answer, Kravitz continues, "You're in life-or-death situations practically every other day, it's your job, and Magnus and Merle are the ones you trust to get you out of them. If they're such idiots, why do you trust them?"

"Because..." Taako frowns, his eyebrows furrowing. "I don't know. Just because they're good fighters doesn't mean I'm gonna talk to them about my feelings and shit. I'm all about that compartmentalized life, gotta keep the co-workers and the diary shit far away from each other, you know? Gotta keep some things to yourself."

It takes a moment, but Kravitz eventually nods. He lets go of Taako to run a hand through his own hair and says, "I guess that makes sense. But you want to tell them anyway?"

The elevator has arrived and sits there doing nothing as Taako groans and puts his face in his hands. It's obvious that he's embarrassed rather than upset, so Kravitz smiles and says, "It's because you care about them, isn't it? You care what they think and you want to involve them further in your life."

"Shut up," Taako whines. He jerks his hat down in front of his face and smacks at Kravitz's hand when he tries to pull him back out.

"They're like family to you."

"Shut _up_."

Kravitz is about to continue when they hear a gentle, muted chime. He fishes a stone of far-speech out from under his jacket (his "casual wear") and looks at the glowing runes on the surface. He sighs and lets the stone hang from his neck.

"It's the Raven Queen," he says. "Necromancer in Goldcliff, gotta collect."

Taako reemerges and nods. "Death waits for no man. No man waits for Death? How does that work in this situation?"

"I don't know," Kravitz says, "but you're really dedicated to those death jokes, aren't you?" His cloak has unfurled out of nowhere and his scythe is starting to manifest in his hand.

"One of the perks of knowing me," Taako smirks.

Kravitz smiles and waves his scythe off to the side, opening a portal without looking. As he steps through the portal, he jokes, "No man waits for Death."

The portal closes and Taako stays there leaning against the wall, still smiling. Before he can go to summon the elevator again, though, a new, smaller portal slashes open right at eye level.

"I forgot to ask," Kravitz says as his head pops through, flickering back from skull to skin, "but this was a date, right?"

"I was kinda hoping, yeah." Taako stands up straight and walks over to the portal. "I mean, I dressed up nice and everything, date with Death and all that."

Kravitz frowns a little, adorably confused. "But you always dress like that."

"Semantics." Taako shrugs. "How did you not notice this was a date?"

"Well, none of your associates have died recently, so I knew it wasn't business. Other than that..."

"Krav, we held hands all through desert."

Kravitz is definitely blushing. "Well, I mean," he stammers, "yes, looking back, that really should've tipped me off."

Taako's little smirk grows wider as Kravitz covers his eyes with his hand. He laughs outright when Kravitz's other hand flashes in and out of sight as he tries to wave away the embarrassment.

Eventually he looks at Taako and says, "So this was definitely a date then."

"Hell yeah, baby."

Kravitz nods twice, staring into the middle distance in the general direction of the ground. Taako opens his mouth, but before he can ask what's up, Kravitz leans out of the portal and kisses him on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Taako," Kravitz says quietly, staying close. "I'll call you."

"Not if I call you first," Taako manages to get out. Is time going slower? Did someone fuck with time again? That's gotta be it. Right?

Dipping back into the tear in the fabric of spacetime, Kravitz smiles. The air stitches itself back together with a jagged hum and then it's just Taako, standing in front of the elevator with a bemused smile on his face.

After a few seconds, Taako shakes his head and turns to call the elevator one more time. As he looks out over the grass, though, he changes his mind. It _is_ a nice night out. He could take a walk, maybe. He feels kind of restless, but in a good way, like he might float away at any second if he doesn't move. Something must be up with time _and_ gravity.

Taako sets off across the dewy grass, twirling his umbrella a little bit and whistling for good measure. The few people he runs into give him weird looks, unused to seeing him in such a good mood without some collateral damage, but he doesn't care.

Besides, there's plenty of time make sure everyone knows about his hot new boyfriend later.

**☾☾☾**

Avi had _so_ been looking forward to his night off. The Seekers in the north dorm made some breakthrough or another and they always knew how to party. Plus, rumor has it Killian got access to that good shit, which they had been sorely lacking since Robbie did... whatever he did.

But instead of hanging out on Shoshana and Nico's couch getting blasted, here he was, elbow deep in traffic paperwork. While guarding the hangar was cool most of the time, it really sucked in the form department, and Avi had a bad habit of putting off boring things like that. Not quite a match made in heaven.

So here he was, a stack of papers with a few scribbled in lines on his left and a conveniently ominous clock on his right, wanting nothing more than to throw himself back from his desk and run down the hall like a kid skiving off studying for the big midterm. But Avi is an adult, and this is his job, and while he's not entirely sure if he _can_ be fired, he isn't really in the mood to find out. Especially not over something like this.

Avi sighs and flops forward onto the desktop. Some of his hair ends up in the inkwell and, when he sits up again, draws a scraggly line across his forehead. He blinks unseeingly down at the forms and finally picks up his pen.

"Okay," he says quietly to himself, "get it done."

Three months of paperwork really added up to a lot, order invoices and people in and out. There were even a few consults from Lucas stuck to the back of the oldest forms, which is both embarrassing and a little hilarious.

He started going through the ones closest to completion first. Shipments of the regular supplies, imported shit for Fantasy Costco, food for the caf and books for the nerds; everything easy to fill out by rote, refer to the attached manifest and move on. They were eating a lot more vegetables lately, or at least, were buying more. Avi shakes his head and smiles. Just like the Director to be concerned about the entire Bureau's diet.

Then came the regular business travels. A few Seeker trips to Rockport and Neverwinter, to libraries and curio shops and the interconnected web of gossip and rumor best played by hand. The Director and her entourage visited Goldcliff a couple weeks ago, presumably to see whoever took up the mantle when Captain Captain Bane turned coat. The Regulators were sent out for something—Avi remembers that. It was a Saturday night, Carey and Killian were coming straight from the Chug n' Squeeze and Killian was wobbly getting into the bubble. She kept hitting her head on the doorway and looking at the pod like it was the first time she'd seen it every time.

And then there were the personal trips. His handwriting on those was a bit harder to read, mostly because he was always rushing to get through the lines so he could get to his own weekend plans. Avi squinted at the erratic ink in front of him. Okay, that one was Angus's magic lesson field trip where he and Taako went to Reeves Creek, that smudge in the corner was definitely "fish" and he remembers the ridiculous sight of dozens of fish spilling out of the aperture door and Angus almost throwing up but still beaming as he recounted their adventure. Here was Carey and Killian visiting the Fangbattles in Neverwinter, that weekend Magnus spent in the woods that left him quiet but not gloomily so. One of the chatty kids who worked at the gym went to see their favorite band.

After the stack of just Merle visiting his kids (he wasn't kidding anybody) there was still a suspiciously large amount of paper to go through. Avi skimmed the pages full of familiar handwriting, _his_ handwriting, but recognized none of it. Here was a delivery of a few shirts Taako ordered, some of the kid's detective books tucked in there, and yet there were an extra two crates Avi doesn't remember at all but apparently signed off on. Here was the day he remembered looking forward to because it brought stuff for the midsummer carnival, but thinking back he only remembers hazily, like he was watching himself through a foggy mirror. He sort of remembers accepting the boxes, which were way different in content than he remembered from last time, but only a little? There was a big tube, and a man talking to him, but none of the puzzle pieces fit right.

Avi puts down his pen and sits back, staring at the last few blanks he had to fill. Something didn't add up, literally, yes, but also in the sense that something wasn't quite right. Yet as hard as he thought, he could figure out exactly what it was. He just didn't know enough.

Scribbling in the last few bullshit answers, Avi makes a mental note to talk to the kid detective tomorrow and heads out the door hoping this won't get him fired.

**☾☾☾**

DARK. LATE(?) NIGHT. OOPS, SIDE OF TANK, TOO COLD, RECOIL.

MOURNFUL LITTLE DITTY. JOHANN: LAST MONTH(?), DOWNCAST, MONTH(?) BEFORE, ANGER, STRING OF NUMBERS HE SAYS IS TOO SHORT, WANTS RAISE. "Another day, another shilling. What's up, squishy?" REAL MOON UP, DUMMY.

QUICK, LIGHT UNDER DOOR. WHO.

"Hello Mr. Voidfish."

BOY DETECTIVE ANGUS. SELF HAS NO GENDER. SILLY BOY.

"I was just looking for— Well, he's not here, so I guess I'll just go."

EFFORT, BUT SING.

"Did you just—"

SING.

"Oh! Okay then!"

BOY ANGUS SITS IN FRONT OF TANK. LITTLE HAT AND GLASSES, VERY CUTE. BUT MISSING SHOES. ASK.

"I don't really know what you're saying, it kind of sounds like a question?"

SING.

"Okay, wait, how about one noise for yes, one noise for no?"

SING. BOY ANGUS NODS, TAKES NOTEBOOK OUT FROM... SOMEWHERE. MAGIC CAPE? ASK.

"One second... Okay, so was that a question?"

SING.

"Cool!" BOY ANGUS TAKES NOTE, LITTLE FACE GLOWS IN STAR REFLECTION. "Is it a question about me?"

SING.

"About me, okay..." FLIPS THROUGH PAGES, DIAGRAM, DRAWING OF SELF? SING SING SING!

"What?"

POINT ARM, DRAWING OF SELF!

"Oh yeah, that's you!"

TWIRL! BOY ANGUS SMILES WIDE, VERY CUTE. BLUEPURPLEPINK SHINES GLASSES. PULSE GLOW, WATCH LIGHTS CHANGE. LITTLE PATTERN THAT MAKES BOY ANGUS LAUGH AND WRITE MORE NOTES.

"I've been trying to figure out where you came from, how you work and stuff!" HOLDS UP NOTEBOOK TO TANK. WORDS, SCIENCE, LOTS OF QUESTION MARKS. MORE DRAWINGS OF SELF! WITH LABELS! "That's why I was looking for Johann, I had a couple more questions for him. I guess I could ask you though!"

SING, TAP ON GLASS WITH ARM. FLASH A LITTLE. SING MORE.

"Awesome!" BOY ANGUS SITS, BACK TO TANK. LOOK OVER SHOULDER. HOLDS UP BOOK AND POINTS. "So I was wondering about your feeding system. Does the fact that Johann's compositions are transferred on paper matter at all to your energy intake?"

BOY ANGUS ASKS LOTS OF QUESTIONS, WRITES LOTS OF NEW(?) NOTES OVER OLD(?). ANSWER BEST AS POSSIBLE, BUT STILL LIMITED BY TWO WORDS. TRY TO TELL BOY ANGUS TO CLIMB IN TANK. BOY ANGUS DOESN'T GET MESSAGE. SILLY BOY, VERY GOOD AT FINDING CLUES, VERY BAD AT TAKING HINTS.

BOY ANGUS FALLS ASLEEP, LITTLE BODY WARM SPOT AGAINST TANK. JOHANN ARRIVES, LATER(?), STILL DARK. SIGHS A LOT. FOND? TIRED? RESIGNED. ALSO A LITTLE FOND. BEEPING SOUNDS FROM ROCKWITHSOUND, SCRAMBLED WORDS.

FANCY ELF, TAAKO, IN DOORWAY, COMPLAINS TO JOHANN, PICKS UP BOY ANGUS AND CARRIES HIM OUT. FORGETS BOY ANGUS NOTEBOOK, FLIGHTY TAAKO, TOO BUSY GRUMBLING TO SELF TO PRETEND HE SMOOTHS BOY ANGUS'S HAIR. JOHANN PICKS UP NOTES.

"Huh. I guess that kid was really onto something."

CAREFUL WITH BOOK! IMPORTANT WORK.

"You help him out, buddy?"

FLICK ARM DECISIVELY.

"That's cool. Hungry?"

FLICK ARM AGAIN.

"Gotcha."

**☾☾☾**

Killian loves space. Like _holy shit_ , she _loves_ space. Her childhood bedroom was stuck with enchanted pins arrayed in the nearest replica of the night sky she could make, and her biggest dream is still to do something so heroic and awesome that somebody names a constellation after her. She even tried to befriend Lucas just in case he figured out a way to maybe get one of those stupid elevators up to the real moon, you know, before he turned evil. That was disappointing.

The point was, Killian fricking loved stars and planets and shit. One of the perks of living on the moon is being above the clouds most of the time. Aside from the few times they have to dip into the stratosphere, the sky is always clear and perfect for stargazing. Out of all the cool things up there—high tech weapons, interesting people, badass adventures—the stargazing conditions are Killian's favorite perk, and one she makes sure to take advantage of regularly.

When she and Carey head out on their semi-weekly astronomy date this time, the quad is blissfully empty. No random parties of passerby, no drunken dwarves shouting at the sky. It's late enough that the lights of the surrounding buildings are in their dimmed nighttime mode, but not early enough that they have to worry about dew or sunrises or anything. They've got the blanket, the drinks, and Carey even managed to sneak some of Taako's secret biscotti stash, straight from Neverwinter's finest bakery.

Perfect date night.

"I wish we had a telescope," Killian says eventually. Carey has already run through her repertoire of custom constellations and excuses of why they're never in the same place twice. "I mean, we already have the advantage, being on the moon and all, but shit, those stars are still really far away."

"There's one in the library," Carey points out. "I could—"

"You will not steal the Bureau's telescope."

Carey turns around in Killian's arms. "Come on," she whines. "No one would even notice! Just one night, it's not like anyone uses it anyway."

Killian only laughs, for so long that Carey actually starts to get concerned. Leaning back against her girlfriend it feels like there's an earthquake going on, even as Killian says, "Nuh uh, no way. The Director's already got her eye on you for that kitchen raid you and Magnus went on last week."

"In our defense, Taako promised us cupcakes if he got him that special fantasy nutmeg."

One of Killian's impressive eyebrows quirks. "Did he deliver?"

"...No."

"That's what I thought." When Carey is settled again looking at the sky, Killian continues, "Besides, I think Angus has staked a claim on the library's scope. I ran into him in the caf the other day and he was carrying a bunch of star charts covered in purple marker."

Carey hums. "He _does_ love that purple marker."

She can't see it but Carey knows by the way the arms around her waist tighten that Killian is smiling. The quad is quiet, the only sounds their breathing and the occasional whistle of wind in grass.

Carey glances over her shoulder to confirm the suspicion that the stars are reflected in Killian's eyes in an incredibly disarming way. Yup. Way too pretty. Gotta do something.

"So, 'scope', huh? Is that the technical term?"

The ensuing retributive tickle fight is so totally worth it.

**☾☾☾**

Magnus is lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling he can't really see in the dark. Through the walls he can faintly hear Merle snoring, and the kitchen noises stopped half an hour ago, so Taako is probably asleep too. Wait a second... Yep, definitely sleeping. The only other sound on the whole dang moon is the humming of the generators or air conditioners or whatever and Magnus takes a deep breath.

"Hey, Julia."

There is no reply. Magnus didn't expect otherwise, but he did hope a little. What with all the weird things going on between the Astral Plane and home right now, maybe something would... But he won't think too deep.

"Merle and Taako and I went down to the surface this morning. It's weird to say that now, but we live on the moon so I guess it's only accurate. I don't know what else to call it. It's not really home."

The blankets are uncomfortable all of sudden and Magnus twists around. He shouldn't've worn socks. The temperature has been weird all week, problems with the air conditioners or something. They sound fine right now but who knows?

Once he kicks off his scratchy socks, Magnus rubs his eyes. "I think this might be home now," he whispers. Well, kind of whispers. Magnus can't really whisper, but he's a little quieter and scratchier, and almost a whisper.

"I think this might be home. Here, with Taako and Merle, and Angus and Carey and the Director, Lucretia. It's not the same but it... It feels like family."

Family... It used to be Ravensroost, sanded wood and fireflies in jars, varnish and cotton and laughing teeth. Before that even, parents, a father's face too tall to see, other kids in the street, blurry incohesive images that slip out of his mind leaving only feeling.

But now? It's something amorphous and immalleable. It's the metallic taste in the air after Taako burns a spell slot to get Merle to stop teasing him about his date. It's giving Angus a piggyback ride, and training with Carey, and helping Johann throw an impromptu concert on the quad. It's seeing the Director in the middle of the night and not doing anything but nod as they pass each other in the hall. It's adventures and new faces. It's lying down in the same bed every night.

"I still miss you guys. I feel like I'm... betraying you, and I know this is what you would've wanted, but I still feel bad. You guys were my family, and always will be, but... But they are too now."

On the nightstand, in the only patch of moonlight left, Stephen does a quick little swirl and bumps his head against the glass in Magnus's direction. Magnus rolls over onto his side and closes his eyes, blankets tight around his shoulders.

"Goodnight, Julia."

**☾☾☾**

There are quite a few things involved in running an entire planet. It's not that Lucretia wasn't aware of the responsibility that would be involved when she took on this endeavor, but it was still a lot to handle. Aside from even the mechanics of keeping the huge campus in the air, there was paperwork to look over and deliveries to manage and employees to direct and hooligans to keep under control. She was exhausted by the end of every day.

That being said, the bureaucratic aspects of the Bureau were the least of her problems most of the time. Like today, for example, she'd had to smooth out some issues with Leon after three shadow figures tried to break into the Fantasy Gachapon. Three shadow figures that of course were definitely _not_ the Reclaimers, thank you very much. Lucretia had gone down to their room to investigate and found them all sitting almost too innocuously on their couch, sipping tea and chatting pleasantly about the weather. There was a little wisp of something when Taako waved goodbye, but she didn't want to press the issue. No harm, no foul, and all that jazz.

Pushing closed the door to her chambers, Lucretia rested her staff against the nearest bookshelf. She let her heavy cloak fall off her shoulders and carefully hung it up next to the door. Without the wool weighing on her, she rolled her shoulders and neck. Shoes in the closet, papers on the desk, automatic motion like clockwork guiding her around the room.

A stop in the bathroom to wash her face, a moment to consider herself in the mirror. Lucretia doesn't think she'll ever really get used to the white hair, but she has to admit, it suits her well. It makes her look dignified and everything, and it fits with the Director persona she has to put on to get the job done. Sometimes she wishes she didn't look so distinguished though. Maybe it would be okay is some people found her approachable.

"You're doing a good job, Lu," she tells her reflection. "You're doing an _important_ job. And you're doing it well."

Walking back out into the main chamber, Lucretia sighs. That pile of reports isn't going to read itself, but it is Friday, after all. One night off wouldn't kill her, right?

She changes into her nightgown and climbs into bed. On her nightstand is a book with a tiny piece of paper sticking out about halfway through. Whenever she was reading it, she certainly doesn't remember now. In fact, she can't remember the last time she read _anything_ that wasn't about Bureau business.

It's one of those kid detective stories that Angus lent her. He had stacks of them in his room, which Lucretia made sure to drop by a couple of times a week, because he was just a kid after all and someone needed to check in on him.

She pulls out the bookmark and cracks it open to the first page. The words are unfamiliar again already, but Lu finds herself quickly drawn into the world. This Caleb Cleveland really was a clever kid, although she couldn't help but feel Angus McDonald was just a bit cleverer.

Somewhere between chapters six and seven Lu starts to drift off. When she's woken by a knock at her door, the pages are creased right where Caleb was about to finally meet the antagonist.

Pulling her robe on and rubbing her forehead, Lu cracks open the door.

"Davenport," Davenport whispers apologetically. He's holding a squirmy tabby cat in his arms and there's orange fur all over his striped pajama shirt.

"Oh, Jones." Lucretia held out her arms and Davenport transferred the cat, who stopped squirming as soon as she was in Lucretia's hold.

"Thank you, Davenport," she said as Jones sinks her claws into her blue dressing gown. Davenport fixes his nightcap and nods before retreating down the hall to his own room.

Once the door is closed Jones jumps right out of Lucretia's arms and onto the floor. She heads straight to the corner where her pile of blankets is, and pulls out a little woolen mouse out from the folds. As she bats it around and noses at it to make sure everything is the same as she left it, Lucretia sighs.

"You really shouldn't wander around like that," she says. Jones pays her no mind, and she shakes her head as she turns off the light on her way out.

When Lu pulls back the covers and gets back into bed, Jones appears in the doorway.

"Get in here." She pats the bed next to her and Jones climbs up, her head held high like it's a coincidence that she's decided to grace Lu with her presence at the same time she was asked to.

The blanket swirls under padding feet and Lu waves at the wall to turn the light off. Lying there in the silence the forward hum of the station is just noticeable enough to be soothing. She doesn't stay still very often and it's a little unsettling, to the point where she swears she feels the planet turning far beneath them. One last glance out the window shows the sun about to rise.

They keep moving forward. The world keeps turning. Lucretia falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> a little ditty for the moon kids! hope you enjoy! griffin can pry my alien reference cat from my cold dead hands (jk griffy ily youaresafenowmychild.jpeg). also, you should all picture garfield as the actual cat but person sized and purple, because that's how i pictured him writing it. thank u.
> 
> oc's: elias gaelyn belongs to [ej](https://twitter.com/2amhoney) and [shoshana](https://twitter.com/banjolinsong) & [nico](https://twitter.com/gothnico) the seekers are my friends. thank u for letting me borrow yr names/characters, i love y'all
> 
> title from "[moon song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU6KFnGF9M8)" by karen o, because i remembered the other day how much i love _her_.
> 
> tumblr @[moonfullofstars](http://moonfullofstars.tumblr.com)


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